Friday, August 16, 2013

HONDA Seeks To Save Drive-In Theaters

·End of 35mm film distribution puts many drive-in theaters in jeopardy of closure

·Honda
sponsors national campaign to save drive-in’s from possible closure
with donation of digital projectors and raising community awareness

TORRANCE,
Calif., Aug. 12, 2013 – The end of 35mm film distribution by the close
of 2013 could shut down hundreds of drive-in theaters because of the
costly switch to digital projection, estimated at $75,000+ per screen. Project Drive-In, a newly launched national effort sponsored by Honda
to save as many drive-ins as possible, is raising community awareness
across the nation, supplying at least five drive-ins with digital
projectors and giving people easy ways to get involved and ensure that
this historic part of American cinema and car culture lives on.

At www.projectdrivein.com,
people can vote to determine which five drive-in theaters will receive a
new digital projector from Honda. Voting began on Aug. 9 and ends on
Sept. 9 at 9:00 pm PT. The five winning theaters will be revealed in
September, and each will host a celebration that includes a special screening of Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, in theaters everywhere on September 27.

“Cars and
drive-in theaters go hand-in-hand, and it’s our mission to save this
decades-old slice of Americana that holds such nostalgia for so many of
us,” said Alicia Jones, Manager of Honda & Acura Social Marketing at
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Drive-ins first opened in 1933 to mass
popularity and reached their peak after World War II during the 1950s
and ’60s when there were more than 4,000 across the country. Jones
continued, “We’re committed to helping the remaining drive-in theaters
flourish with the move to digital projection.”

The
website encourages people to share Project Drive-In with family and
friends via social media, pledge to see one movie at their local
drive-in and contribute to the Honda Project Drive-In Fund to keep more
drive-ins in business. As part of Honda’s fundraising efforts, there
will also be an online auction that features tickets to the Los Angeles
premiere of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 as well as
additional film-related merchandise. Honda will launch pop-up drive-ins
at Honda dealerships across the country to help raise awareness and
build a groundswell of support, featuring a free screening of the first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs film.

About Honda
Honda offers a complete lineup of cars and trucks through a network of
more than 1,000 dealerships in the United States. In 2013, Honda marks
40 years of the Civic model, with more than 30 years of producing
automobiles in the region, which began with the Accord in Marysville,
Ohio, in November 1982. Having produced more than 25 million vehicles
in North America through 2012 using domestic and globally1
sourced parts, Honda currently operates 14 major manufacturing
facilities in North America, producing a wide range of Honda
automobiles, all-terrain vehicles, power equipment products, engines
and transmissions.

About Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs 2" picks up where Sony Pictures Animation’s
mouth-watering comedy left off. Inventor Flint Lockwood thought he saved
the world when he destroyed his most infamous invention -- a machine
that turned water into food causing cheeseburger rain and spaghetti
tornadoes. But Flint soon learns that his invention survived and is now
creating food-animals – "foodimals!" Flint and his friends embark on a
dangerously delicious mission to battle hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees,
hippotatomuses, cheespiders and other foodimals to save the world –
again! Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. Screenplay by Erica
Rivinoja and John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein. Story by Phil
Lord & Christopher Miller and Erica Rivinoja. Inspired by the book
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi Barrett and
illustrated by Ron Barrett. Produced by Pam Marsden and Kirk Bodyfelt.